The Superman-Card controversy

Some time back, we ran several reports on comics being attacked for having gay characters. A group called One Million Moms had a hissy fit when two gay characters in X-Men got married. Now it looks like there’s another battle against homophobia brewing with an upcoming Superman anthology.

Orson Scott Card, the writer of Enders Game, is openly anti-gay, and as Giant Freakin Robot reports, once it was announced that Card would be part of a Superman anthology, it quickly caused a massive uproar.

There was at least one petition signing against Card, and one comic retailer has refused to carry the Superman anthology he’ll be involved in.

As the Daily Beast notes, Card is writing the first two issues of the Adventures of Superman, which is due from DC in April. In the case of Enders Game, it’s promising to be one of the biggest genre films of the year when it’s finally ready this November, and some feel this controversy could end up hurting the film.

Robot tells us that Card has called homosexuality "reproductive dysfunction," and he also wrote an editorial for The Mormon Times where he threatened to "act to destroy" any government that tried to redefine what traditional marriage means. (Card is on the board of the National Organization of Marriage.)

"The dark secret of homosexual society," Card wrote in one essay, "The one that dares not speak its name – is how many homosexuals first entered into that world through a disturbing seduction or molestation or abuse."

This has not gone over well with at least one pro gay group, All Out, who are demanding DC throw Card out on his ear.

The executive director of All Out, Andre Banks, told the Beast, "Americans take their superheroes seriously. And we didn’t want Orson Scott Card as the voice of Superman."

DC responded by saying that Card’s views don’t reflect the company’s views, and that their superheroes are very gay friendly, with the Green Lantern coming out of the closet in 2012. (Batwoman was also recently revealed as a lesbian).

As we’ve reported previously on TG, people of all walks of life, including gays, are genre fans. We reported a story on a gay marriage that took place in a New York comic book store, and we’ve also reported about the site Gaymer.com, which is for gay gamers, not to mention the fact that the new Spock, Zachary Quinto, has also publically come out of the closet, which didn’t cause any controversy whatsoever.

We geeks know what it’s like to be excluded in life, and know how painful prejudice can be. Like gay people and other minorities, we just want to be accepted and treated like everyone else, and when it comes to genre worship, enthusiasm and sincerity is all that really matters, not the color of your skin, nationality, or sexual preference.